By Jim Bloch
“I’ll tell you this, the canal will not be open this season.”
City Manager James Freed made the announcement of the continued closure May 13 at the regular meeting of the Port Huron City Council.
The canal connects the southwestern shore of Lake Huron and the southeastern reaches of the Black River. It was dredged in 1912 in an effort to flush the polluted waters of the Black River into the St. Clair River.
Today, the main uses of the canal are recreational. Boaters, for example, use the canal as a shortcut to the lake.
An ice jam on the Black River last winter caused a flood in the canal. Water backed up and reversed its normal direction, flowing from the river along the canal to Lake Huron instead of from Lake Huron along the canal to the river.
The rush of water doubled the width of the canal and carried mounds of debris, including fallen trees, into the Tainter gate, damaging the moveable dam used to regulate water intake from the lake. The Tainter gate sits west of the lake in the canal and east of Gratiot Avenue.
The straight blue line from Lake Huron to the Black River is the canal.
“We have removed the debris from the canal,” said Freed, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on the city’s website. “The Tainter gate still sits in the water. The removal of the debris was very dangerous work. The two banks of the canal have eroded in such a way that moving heavy equipment has become very dangerous because the banks can collapse and cave in.”
The debris was removed April 1.
The Tainter gate is now preventing a pile of sand and debris from being pushed by Lake Huron further into the canal. If the gate was removed, the lake would push the mass into the main run of the canal on the west side of Gratiot Ave. If that happened, the city would have to dredge the whole canal instead of just the mouth of the canal, which it does annually.
“We need to build a cofferdam on both sides of the gate so that we can begin to remove the Tainter gate to work on the structure,” said Freed.
A cofferdam is a structure built in a body of water that allows the water to be pumped out and construction work to take place in a dry area. When it is installed, the cofferdam will prevent sand and silt from clogging the canal west of Gratiot Ave. At that time, the gate may be removed and assessed for damage. It will have to be repaired or replaced, depending on the nature of the damage.
The city is waiting for a permit to begin work from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
“We are meeting with EGLE tomorrow to try to get an emergency permit to begin work on the cofferdam,” said Freed.
Who’s dragging their feet? asked council member Anita Ashford.
“It’s definitely EGLE,” said Freed.
The canal, the Black River, the St. Clair River and Lake Huron between the two waterways create a roughly10-mile loop for aquatic travel. Kayakers and canoeists may enter the Black River from the St. Clair River, head generally northwest to the canal then paddle east to Lake Huron and south back to the St. Clair River. Or vice-versa. The route is officially known as the Island Loop Route National Water Trail.
“Our goal is to make sure the work is done and (the canal) is ready for next season,” said Freed.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
